Combined looper and loop cutting attachment for sewing machines



Dec. 18, 1934. w, c, STEWART 1,984,772

COMBINED LOOPER AND LOOP CUTTING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES FiledJune 25, 1931 I 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

BY MGR ATTORNEY.

Dec. 18, 1934. w Q STEWART 1,984,772

COMBINED LAOOPER AND LOOP CUTTING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES FiledJune 23, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 W C. 575N452".

INVENTOR.

I BY ATTORNEY.

Dec. 18, 1934.- w. c. STEWART 1,984,772

COMBINED LOOPER AND LOOP CUTTING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES FiledJune 23, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 4s v 3 14/05761444/371 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Dec. 18, 1934. w. c. STEWART COMBINED LOOPER AND LOOP CUTTING ATTACHMENTFOR SEWING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 23, 1951 M 6. 575mmINVENTOR BY M ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 18, 1934 PATENT OFFICE COMBINED LOOPER AND LOOP CUTTINGATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES Walter C.Stewart, Gastonia, N. 0.,assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Boysell Company, Gastonia, N.'C.,a corporation of North Carolina Application June 23, 1931, Serial No.546,381

- Claims. (c1. 112-79) This invention relates to a sewing machineattachment adapted to be attached to a conventional commercial sewingmachine and to be operated thereby for forming tufted rugs and 5comprises means for forming a plurality of alined loops on the lowerside of a fabric and for severing said loops to form a tufted rug orsimilar textile article.

Heretofore, various types of machines have been provided both of thesingle needle type and multiple needle type for forming tufted andlooped rugs; but such machines have been complicated and it is an objectof this invention to provide a simple mechanism which may be built intoa machine or which may be attached to a conventional commercial machinefor operation thereby to cause such machine to form tufted rugs of ahigh quality at a minimum of expense.

It is an object of this invention to provide means adapted to beassociated with a sewing machine for causing the sewing machine to formelongated loops on the lower side of a fabric and to sever said loops atthe same operation in which they are formed so that a line of stitcheswill be placed in a piece of fabric andsevered on the upward travel ofthe needle -to form a row of stitches which when out, forms tufts on.the lower side of the fabric and by passing the fabric thru the machineseveral times, a plurality of said rows can be formed side by side in awell known manner to form a tufted rug of any peculiar design which maybe desired.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an end elevation of theneedle bar and needle head of a sewing machine and showing the lowerframework of the machine in cross section, and showing the parts in theposition they will assume when the needle is atits highest P int;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure l but showing the position of partswhen the needle has reached its lowestpoint;

Figure 3 is a. view partially in cross section taken along the line 3-3in Figure 6;

Figure 4 is another view partially in cross section and taken along theline 44 in Figure 6;

Figure 5 is a plan view taken along the line 55 in Figure 1, with thepresser foot omitted but passing thru the needle;

Figure 6 is a plan view along the same line 55 in Figure 1, but showinga portion of the base plate of the sewing machine broken away;

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic view showing the severing operation of theloop;

Figure 8 'is a view showing a portion of the finished fabric.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 10 indicatesthe conventional head of a sewing machine having the presser foot shaft11 with the presser foot 12 pivotally secured thereonas at 13 andreference character 14 indicates the conventional needle bar of a sewingmachine having the eyelet-15 thru which the thread supply is passed anda needle 16, said needle having grooves 17 in both-sides thereof inwhich the thread rests as it passes thru the fabric and the needle nearits lower end is flattened as at 18 and along this flattened portion thelooper is adapted to pass inthe looping operation.

A conventional base plate 20 is shown having a throat plate 21 with aslot 22 therein thru which the front portion of the needle passes andthis throat plate has slots 23 and 24 therein thru which the feeder 25projects having teeth thereon for feeding the fabric thru the machine.This feeder bar is rigidly mounted on a reciproeating bar 26 which ispivotally mounted as at 27 on stud bolt 2'? fixedly secured onoscillating shaft 29 for positively driving the feed bar and which isdriven from the sewing machine by conventional means not shown. The freeend of feed bar 26 is supported by a slide 30 mounted on stud bolt 31 inthe free end of arm 32 mounted on shaft 33 and also oscillated by powerderived from the sewing machine in a conventional manner not shown.

The feeder support bar 26 has secured thereto one end of a tensionspring 34 and the other end of this tension spring is secured in anysuitable manner such as around the drive shaft 29 for the feeder supportbarj The operation of these two oscillating shafts is to cause arm 32 tobe raised while arm 28 is moving to the left in Figure 1 to cause thefabric to be fed thru the machine, whereas when arm 28 is moving to theright in Figure 1, arm 32 will be lowered to cause the teeth on thefeeder 25 to fail to engage the fabric which is conventional. 0n thelower surface of the base plate is a downwardly projecting portion 35which here ofore in thetype of machines shown has been employed forsupporting the bobbin mechanism in the machine, but since no bobbinmechanism is necessary in the looper, this projection is usedas asupport for'the looping mechanism which will be presently described.

The above described types are conventional in a machine, and adescription and operation of thesame has been set forth to show theircooperation with the looping mechanism to be described.

The looping mechanism comprises a support 40 which is secured toprojection 35 in an adjustable manner by means of said supports havingarcuate slots 41 and 42 therein in which set screws 43 and 44 areplaced, and these set screws threadedly engage suitable holes inprojection 35 so that the position of said support can be adjusted. Saidsupport also has adjustably mounted thereon a fulcrum member 45 which isslotted or forked at its upper end as at 46 which slot or fork 46 ispenetrated by a set screw 4701, which is threadably embedded in support40 andthe other end of this fulcrum support has a pin 47 projectingtherefrom on which the free end of a part of the mechanism for cuttingthe loops has lodgement for operation thereon.

Pivotally mounted as at 48 on the lower end of support 40 is the looperarm 49 which projects upwardly in close proximity to the thread plateand has a horizontally disposed portion 51 and a downwardly projectingportion 52 which is beveled as at 53 to cause it to easily enter betweenthe thread 54 and the needle to form a loop. Pivotally mounted as at 55is a movable cutter 56 having cutting edge 5'7 adapted to have movementwith relation to the lower edge of portion 51 of the looper and act inthe manner as a pair of shears or scissors.

This cutter mechanism has a leaf spring 58 secured on pivot point 55 andpresses against the end of the cutting portion 57 to cause the cutter toengage the edge of the looper when the cutter is moved with relation tothe looper. Projecting downwardly from the pivot point said cutter has aleg 59 which is forked at its lower end as at 60 which fork is adaptedto engage pin 4'7 in fulcrum support member 45 so that the cuttingmember will be operated when the looper is oscillated during theoperation of the sewing machine.

Pivotally mounted on stud bolt 27 between arm 28 and feeder bar 26 is amember 60 which has a slot 61 therethru in which an adjusting screw 62is mounted and engaging both sides of member 60 are the connecting rods63 and 64 which are forked at the end connected to the member 60 and theadjusting screw 62 is adapted to penetrate these forks so that theworking length of the distance between the stud bolts 27 and the pivotalpoint of connection of members 63 and. 64 and looper 49 can be adjusted.This .pivotal point indicated by reference character 66 is in the formof a bolt passing thru the ends of con ecting rods 63 and 64 and also'thru looper mem er 49.

The upper end of the looper, designated by reference character 50 may bemade all in one piece with portion 49 if desired but in the drawings, itis shown as a separate piece so that it can be made of a fine grade ofcutting steel and is connected to the upper end of 49 by riveting orother suitable means such as shown by rivet 67.

In Figure 8 is shown a few stitches of a row of the finished work inwhich the fabric is indicated by reference character 70 and the loopsare shown as being cut and of course each portion 71 is composed of twostrands of the thread as the needle descends thru the hole and the loopis made and cut and the needle brings the strands of thread back thruthe same hole, and then the feeder mechanism operates in a conventionalmanner to cause the needle to descend making another hole in the fabricand the looping and cutting operation is repeated thus forming the loopsin a row.

When the needle is raised to its highest position the tip 52 of thelooper'is moved to a position to the right of a vertical line drawn thruthe needle in Figures 1 and 2 and the needle makes its downward travel.As the needle starts rising, the looper moves between the needle and thethread above the eye of the needle and travels forward and pushes thelooped thread slightly backward on the looper where it is held as theneedle rises, and then the needle and looper form another loop and thelast loop pushes the first loop to a point as shown in Figure 7, andduring the next travel the fork 60 resting on fulcrum pin 47 causes thecutter to open as the looper is moved toward the needle by theconnecting rods 63 and 64, the forward movement of the looper pushingthe first loop back into the path of the. cutter to insure that thecutter as it closes will sever the loop. With the looper advancedforwardly or to the right in Figures 1 and 2 to its full travel which isreached when the needle is raised to its highest position, as the needlestarts descending the looper is moved backwardly or to the left inFigures-1 and 2 and this causes the cutter to close on the loop and cutthe loop as it is pulled backwardly by the looper and the gripping ofthe loop by the cutter as the backward movement starts insures that theloop will not slip off the looper but will be gripped and cut by thecutter. There is always one un cut loop on 'the looper to keep theneedle threaded and insure even length of tufts.

In the drawings and specification, there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed,they are used in a .generic and descriptive sense only and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth inthe appended claims.

I claim:

1. A tufting machine comprising a reciprocating needle and means forguiding a strand thereto, a work support, means for feeding the workthru the machine, a looper adapted to pass above the eye of the needleand between the needle and the strand carried by the needle, a throatplate for said machine, a feeder projecting thru the throat plate, meansfor actuating said feeder, and means connected to the feeder actuatingmeans for actuating said looper.

2. In a sewing machine comprising a work support, a reciprocatingneedle, a throat plate, means for' feeding the work thru the sewingmachine, a looper and cutter member mounted for oscillation in alinementwith the row of stitches formed by the needle, and means connected tothe work feeding means for oscillating said looper.

3. In a sewing machine having a frame, a I

reciprocating needle, a work support, means for feeding the work thruthe sewing machine, a looper mounted for travel in alinement with therow of stitches, a pivoted cutting member mounted on said looper, meansconnecting said looper with thework feeding means for oscillation ofsaid looper, means for slidably connecting one end of said cutter to theframe to cause said cutter to be opened and closed with relation to saidlooper by the oscillation of said looper.

4. A looper and cutter attachment for sewing machines, said sewingmachine having a reciprocating needle, a throat plate, work feedingmeans, a base plate, a downwardly projecting portion on said base'plate,a support adjustably mounted on said projection, an oscillating looperand cutter mounted on said support, means connecting said looper andcutter to the work feeding means for oscillation of the looper andcutter, a pivot for one end of said cutter adjustably mounted on saidsupport at one end thereof, one end of said cutter being pivotallymounted on said looper, the oscillation of said looper being adapted toopen and close said cutter at predetermined times to receive and cut theloop formed by the looper.

5. In a sewing machine having a frame, a reciprocating needle, a Worksupport, means for feeding the work thru the sewing machine, a loopermounted for travel in alinement with the row of stitches, a pivotedcutting member mounted on said looper, means connecting said looper withthe work feeding means, for oscillation of said looper, means forconnecting one end of said cutter to the frame to cause said cutter tobe opened and closed with relation to said looper by the oscillation ofsaid looper.

WALTER C. STEWART.

